Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Barbarous |
BarbarousAdjective1. (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering; "a barbarous crime"; "brutal beatings"; "cruel tortures"; "Stalin's roughshod treatment of the kulaks"; "a savage slap"; "vicious kicks". 2. Primitive in customs and culture. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "barbarous" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
Etymology: Barbarous \Bar"ba*rous\, adjective. [Latin expression barbarus, Greek, strange, foreign; later, slavish, rude, ignorant; akin to Latin balbus stammering, Sanskrit barbara stammering, outlandish. Compare to Brave,]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Tips from 1870 | Usage: Barbaric, Barbarous. Barbaric refers to a people; barbarous to their low state of life and their habits of cruelty. Source: Slips of Speech. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: BarbarousSynonyms: brutal (adj), cruel (adj), fell (adj), roughshod (adj), savage (adj), vicious (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Amorphism | Adjective: shapeless, amorphous, formless; unformed, unhewn, unfashioned, unshaped, unshapen; rough, rude, Gothic, barbarous, rugged. |
Commonalty | Barbarous, barbarian, barbaric, barbaresque;barbarous, barbarian, barbaric, barbaresque; cockney, born within sound of Bow bells. |
Inelegance | Adjective: inelegant, graceless, ungraceful; harsh, abrupt; dry, stiff, cramped, formal, guinde; forced, labored; artificial, mannered, ponderous; awkward, uncourtly, unpolished; turgid; affected, euphuistic; barbarous, uncouth, grotesque, rude, crude, halting; offensive to ears polite. |
Malevolence | Cruel; brutal, brutish; savage, savage as a bear, savage as a tiger; ferine, ferocious; inhuman; barbarous, barbaric, semibarbaric, fell, untamed, tameless, truculent, incendiary; bloodthirsty; (murderous); atrocious; bloodyminded. |
Vulgarity | Unkempt. uncombed, untamed, unlicked, unpolished, uncouth; plebeian; incondite; heavy, rude, awkward; homely, homespun, home bred; provincial, countrified, rustic; boorish, clownish; savage, brutish, blackguard, rowdy, snobbish; barbarous, barbaric; Gothic, |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Barbarous |
| English words defined with "barbarous": Aroph ♦ Barbaic, barbarise, barbarism, barbarity, barbarize, barbarously, brutal, brutality ♦ cruel ♦ Dog Latin, Dyaks ♦ fell ♦ Great climacteric ♦ impotent ♦ justification ♦ Romanesque style, roughshod ♦ savage, savagery, Semibarbarian, Semibarbaric, Semibarbarism, Semibarbarous ♦ Unhumanize ♦ vicious. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "barbarous": APOTHECARY'S ♦ BOG LATIN ♦ CUPID ♦ DOG LATIN ♦ Hill Tribes ♦ LAW LATIN, love ♦ monosyllabic ♦ Skopts, Skopti. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "barbarous": rhubarb. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Surely, you know the Arabs are a barbarous people (Lawrence of Arabia; writing credit: T.E. Lawrence; Robert Bolt) So long as the Arabs fight tribe against tribe, so long will they be a little people, a silly people, greedy, barbarous, and cruel, as you are. (Lawrence of Arabia; writing credit: T.E. Lawrence; Robert Bolt) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Barbarous Plots (1918) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Play | Caption | Play | Caption |
 | Wild animal; lion; tiger; beast; beastly; bestial; vicious; barbaric; barbarian; barbarous; savage. | | Roar; bellow; gorilla; anthropoid ape; simian; primate; barbarous; bloodthirsty; dangerous; enraged; feral; ferocious; fiery; furious; infuriated; primitive; raging; savage; untamed; vicious; violent; wild; enraged; maddened; provoked. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Charles Dudley Warner | It is fortunate that each generation does not comprehend its own ignorance. We are thus enabled to call our ancestors barbarous. |
John Maynard Keynes | In truth, the gold standard is already a barbarous relic. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
US Declaration of Independence | 1776 | He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | It is only barbarous nations who have a sudden growth after a victory |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | MONOSYLLABIC, adj. Composed of words of one syllable, for literary babes who never tire of testifying their delight in the vapid compound by appropriate googoogling. The words are commonly Saxon -- that is to say, words of a barbarous people destitute of ideas and incapable of any but the most elementary sentiments and emotions. The man who writes in Saxon Is the man to use an ax on Judibras |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
James Madison | 1809-1817 | His barbarous policy has not even spared those monuments of the arts and models of taste with which our country had enriched and embellished its infant metropolis. |
Ronald Reagan | 1981-1989 | At the same time we see totalitarian forces in the world who seek subversion and conflict around the globe to further their barbarous assault on the human spirit. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Barbarous" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 98.84% of the time. "Barbarous" is used about 86 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 98.84% | 85 | 35,870 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.16% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 86 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "barbarous": barbarous brutal cruel fell roughshod savage vicious. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "barbarous": semi-barbarous. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
barbarous | 16 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "barbarous"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | barbar (barbarian, barbaric, goth, gothic, heathen, Hun, vandal), i egër (atrocious, bestial, cannibalic, cannibalish, cruel, despiteful, ferae naturae, feral, ferine, ferocious, fierce, furious, merciless, outrageous, rabid, savage, snappish, tigerish, tigrish, vicious, wild). (various references) | |
Arabic | متوحش (awful, ferocious, ruffianly, savage), همجي (barbarian, barbaric, bestial, heathen, hooligan, outlandish, ruffian, ruffianly, savage, skinhead, uncivil, uncivilised, undisciplined, wild), وحشي (atrocious, barbarian, bestial, bloodthirsty, bloody, brutal, brute, brutish, cannibalistic, cruel, diabolic, diabolical, draconian, feral, fiendish, fierce, ill, inhuman, inhumane, insensate, remorseless, ruffian, savage, truculent, unfeeling, vicious, wanton, wild), غير فصيح (base, colloquial), غير متمدن (barbaric, heathen, savage, uncivil, uncivilised). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | варварски (barbarian, barbaric, feral, gothic, heathenish, inhuman), див (dark, ferae naturae, feral, ferine, ferocious, frenzied, harsh, heathen, lupine, natural, orgiastic, rough, savage, tameless, uncivilized, uncultivated, untamed, wild). (various references) | |
Chinese | 野蛮 (Barbarian, Barbaric, Barbarities, Barbarity, savage), 野 . (various references) | |
Czech | barbarský (barbarian, barbaric, heathen, savage, uncivilized). (various references) | |
Farsi | وحشی (Barbaric, Brutal, Ferocious, Gross, Harebrained, Rambunctious, Ruffian, Ruttish, Savage, Truculent, Uncivil, Uncivilized, Undaunted, Ungovernable, Unshaped(En), Wild), غیرمصطلح (Unvocal), بیگانه (Abroad, Alien, Barbarian, Exotic, Gringo, Only, Outsider, Strange, Stranger), بی تربیت (Gross, Impolite, Random, Uncivil, Underbred). (various references) | |
Finnish | barbaarinen (barbaric). (various references) | |
French | barbare (barbarian, barbaric). (various references) | |
German | grausam (atrocious, callous, cruel, cruelly, ferocious, ghastly, heartless, sanguinary, savage), barbarisch (barbarian, barbarianly, barbaric, barbarically, barbarously, brutal, savage, uncivilized). (various references) | |
Greek | βάρβαροσ (barbarian, bestial, tramontane). (various references) | |
Hebrew | לא תרבותי (uncivilised, uncivilized), אכזר (cruel, inclement, unkind). (various references) | |
Hungarian | vandál (goth, gothish, vandal), barbár (barbarian, barbaric, gothic, gothish, heathenish, inhuman, savage). (various references) | |
Indonesian | biadab (barbarian, barbaric, ill mannered, uncultured, uneducated). (various references) | |
Italian | barbaro; crudele, barbaro (barbarian, barbaric, Hun, inhuman, savage). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 蛮的 (rustic, savage). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ば"てき (rustic, savage). (various references) | |
Korean | 야만스러운. (various references) | |
Manx | neuvyghinagh (inexorable, relentless, ruthless), neughooinal, gyn chymmey (pitiless), dewil (cold-blooded, cruel, inclement, savage, severe). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | arbarousbay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | bárbaro (barbarian, barbaric, brute, bumbling, cloddish, cruel, fell, larrikin, lawless, low-lived, ruffianly, tramontane, truculent, uncivilized, uncouth, wild). (various references) | |
Romanian | barbar (barbarian, barbaric, goth, gothic, inhuman, savage), sãlbatic (bloodthirsty, brutal, brutish, cruel, feral, ferine, ferocious, fierce, fiery, haggard, harsh, impetuous, inhuman, inhumanly, rugged, sanguinary, savage, shaggy, tameless, truculent, uncivilized, uncouth, uncouthly, uncultivated, uncultured, ungovernable, unruly, unsociable, violent, wild, wild man), necioplit (boorish, churl, churlish, coarse, loutish, oafish, rough, unaccomplished, uncouth, unmannerly, unpolished, with the bark on), incult (dark, illiberal, illiterate, unaccomplished, uncultivated, uneducated, unlearned, unlettered), feroce (awful, bloodthirsty, brutal, cruel, dreadful, fearful, ferocious, ferociously, fierce, inhuman, ruthless, savage, savagely, truculent, unmerciful). (various references) | |
Russian | варварский (barbarian, barbaric, butcherly, gothic, heathenish, truculent, uncivilized, vandal). (various references) | |
Scottish | barbarra. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | divljčki varvarski. (various references) | |
Spanish | bárbaro (barbarian, barbaric, cruel, fantastic, fantastical, gouache, grand, great, heathen, ripping, smashing, super), lleno de barbarismos, cruel (bad, brutal, cruel, fell, flint hearted, grievous, hard, harsh, heartless, inhuman, murderous, oppressive, pitiless, ruthless, savage, unkind, vicious, wicked). (various references) | |
Swedish | omänsklig (barbaros, inhuman, inhumane), barbarisk (barbaric, gothic, savage, uncivilized). (various references) | |
Thai | ป่าเถื่อน (barbaric). (various references) | |
Turkish | barbar (barbarian, barbaric, bestial, goth, gothic, heathen, heathenish, savage, uncivilized, vandal, vandalic, wild), yontulmamış (bearish, brutal, clodhopping, clownish, coarse, coarse grained, craggy, hobnailed, rough-hewn, rugged, rustic, shaggy, uncut), kaba (abrupt, base, bearish, boorish, brusque, brutal, brutish, churlish, clodhopping, coarse, coarse grained, common, crass, crude, discourteous, disobliging, disrespectful, doric, foul, graceless, gross, gruff, gutter, hard-hitting, harsh, heavy, hobnailed, hoggish, ill bred, ill mannered, impolite, incondite, indelicate, inelegant, loud, loutish, offhand, offhanded, ornery, puffy, rank, rough, rough-hewn, roughly, rude, rugged, rustic, short-spoken, splay, swinish, tactless, unceremonious, unchivalrous, uncivil, uncomplaisant, uncomplimentary, uncouth, underbred, unfinished, ungainly, ungalant, ungentle, ungentlemanlike, ungentlemanly, ungraceful, ungracious, unmannerly, unparliamentary, unpolished, unrefined, vulgar), insanlık dışı (barbarously, diabolic, diabolical, inhuman, inhumane, unnatural). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | варварський (barbarian, barbaric, gothic, heathenish, uncivilized, vandal, vandalistic), некультурний (barbaric, sloven, uncultivated), нелюдяний (inhuman), неправильний (anomalous, awry, bad, illegitimate, improper, incorrect, irregular, unequal, unfair, unlawful, untrue, wrong, wrongful), жорстокий (atrocious, bloody minded, brutal, brute, brutish, cruel, cutthroat, despiteful, feral, ferocious, merciless, oppressive, outrageous, ruthless, stern, uncharitable), перекручений (anamorphous, corrupt, distorted, drawn, mutilate, perverted, retorted, warped, wry), дикий (barbarian, feral, ferine, natural, orgiastic, savage, wild). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | t n bạo không phải l Hy lạp, man rợ hung ác (barbarously), dã man (barbarian, barbaric, barbarously, bestial, ferocious, inhumanly, sanguinary, savagely). (various references) | |
Welsh | anwaraidd (cruel, savage, uncivilized, wild), anwar (barbarian, cruel, savage, wild, wild man). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | efferas, inhumanus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Acts Chapter 28, Verse 2 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Oi de barbaroi pareicon ou thn tucousan filanqrwpian hmin anayanteV gar puran proselabonto pantaV hmaV dia ton ueton ton efestwta kai dia to yucoV |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Accensa enim pyra reficiebant nos omnes propter imbrem qui inminebat et frigus |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | And whanne a fier was kyndelid, thei refreschiden vs alle, for the reyn that cam, and the coold. |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | And the people of the countre shewed vs no lytell kyndnes: for they kyndled a fyre and receaved vs every one because of the present rayne and because of colde. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | And the simple people living there were uncommonly kind to us, for they made a fire for us, and took us in, because it was raining and cold. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Acts Chapter 28, Verse 2 |
| Albanian | Barbarët treguan ndaj nesh një mirësjellje të pazakontë, sepse ndezën një zjarr të madh dhe na morën të gjithëve brenda, sepse binte shi dhe bënte ftohtë. |
| Cebuano | Ug ang mga nanagpuyo didto nagpakita kanamog talagsaong pagkamaloloy-on, kay sila nanagdaub, ug ilang giabiabi kaming tanan, tungod kay nagsugod na man pag-ulan ug matugnaw ang panahon. |
| Chinese | 土 人 看 待 我 們 、 有 非 常 的 情 分 、 為 當 時 下 雨 、 天 氣 又 冷 、 就 " 火 、 接 待 我 們 眾 人 。 |
| Croatian | Uroðenici nam iskazivahu nesvakidašnje èovjekoljublje. Zapališe krijes i okupiše nas oko njega jer je poèela kiša i bilo zima. |
| Danish | Og Barbarerne viste os en usædvanlig Menneskekærlighed; thi de tændte et Bål og toge sig af os alle for den frembrydende Regns og Kuldens Skyld. |
| Dutch | En de barbaren bewezen ons geen gemene vriendelijkheid; want een groot vuur ontstoken hebbende, namen zij ons allen in, om den regen, die overkwam, en om de koude. |
| Finnish | Ja sen asukkaat osoittivat meille suurta ystävällisyyttä: he sytyttivät nuotion ja ottivat meidät kaikki sen ääreen, kun oli ruvennut satamaan ja oli kylmä. |
| French | Les barbares nous témoignèrent une bienveillance peu commune; ils nous recueillirent tous auprès d`un grand feu, qu`ils avaient allumé parce que la pluie tombait et qu`il faisait grand froid. |
| German | Die Leutlein aber erzeigten uns nicht geringe Freundschaft, zündeten ein Feuer an und nahmen uns alle auf um des Regens, der über uns gekommen war, und um der Kälte willen. |
| Haitian Creole | Moun peyi a te aji byen anpil avèk nou. Lapli t'ap tonbe, te fè frèt anpil. Yo limen yon gwo boukan pou resevwa nou. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Penduduk pulau itu sangat ramah terhadap kami. Mereka menyambut kami semuanya dengan baik dan menyalakan api untuk kami karena sudah mulai turun hujan dan udara pun dingin. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Maka orang pulau itu pun menunjukkan kasihan yang teramat sangat kepada kami, karena dinyalakannya api serta menyambut kami sekalian sebab kena hujan dan dingin. |
| Italian | Gli indigeni ci trattarono con rara umanit ; ci accolsero tutti attorno a un gran fuoco, che avevano acceso perché era sopraggiunta la pioggia ed era freddo. |
| Maori | Na kihai i nohinohi te atawhai a nga tangata maori ki a matou: ka tahuna he kapura, whakamanuhiritia ana matou katoa, no te mea e ua ana te ua, no te matao hoki. |
| Norwegian | De innfødte viste ikke liten menneskekjærlighet mot oss; de tendte op en ild og tok sig av oss alle sammen, da det hadde begynt å regne og var koldt. |
| Portuguese | Os indígenas usaram conosco de não pouca humanidade; pois acenderam uma fogueira e nos recolheram a todos por causa da chuva que caía, e por causa do frio. |
| Rumanian | Barbarii ne-au arqtat o bunqvoinyq puyin obicinuitq; ne-au primit pe toyi la un foc mare, pe care -l aprinseserq din pricinq cq ploua, wi se lqsase un frig mare. |
| Shuar | Tura nui matsamin armia nu, shiir awajtamsarmiaji. Tuma asamtai iisha tsetsema asakrin, tura yumisha Yútakui, uunt jinia Ikiapárarmiayi. Tura "anamaitiarum" turammaji. |
| Spanish | Los nativos nos trataron con no poca amabilidad, pues nos recibieron a todos y encendieron un fuego a causa de la lluvia que caía, y del frío. |
| Swahili | Wenyeji wa hapo walikuwa wema sana kwetu. Mvua ilikuwa inaanza kunyesha na kulikuwa na baridi, hivyo waliwasha moto, wakatukaribisha. |
| Swedish | Och infödingarna visade oss en icke vanlig välvilja; de tände upp en eld och togo oss alla med sig dit, för det påkommande regnets och för köldens skull. |
| Uma | Lompe' lia nono-ra pue' ngata hi kai'. Ratarima lompe' -kai, rapobaa-kakai apu kiponerui, apa' udaa wo'o-mi pai' molengi'. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "barbarous": barbarously, barbarousness, barbarousnesses. (additional references) | |
| |
"Barbarous" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Babyrousa, Baraou, Barbares, barbaris, barbaros, Barbaross, barbarus, barb'rous, berbarous. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "barbarous" (pronounced bÄ"rberus) |
| 3 | -er u s | adulterous, adventurous, amorous, avarice, boisterous, cancerous, cantankerous, carboniferous, carnivorous, coniferous, dangerous, decorous, fossiliferous, generous, glamorous, herbivorous, heterosporous, homosporous, humerus, humorous, insectivorous, lecherous, murderous, numerous, odorous, omnivorous, onerous, overgenerous, oviparous, ovoviviparous, phosphorous, phosphorus, ponderous, precancerous, preposterous, prosperous, rancorous, rapturous, rhinoceros, rigorous, slanderous, sonorous, tetramerous, thunderous, timorous, traitorous, treacherous, unglamorous, uterus, vigorous, viviparous, vociferous. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-b-b-o-r-r-s-u" | |
-2 letters: arbours, arrobas, auroras, rasbora. | |
-3 letters: absorb, arbors, arbour, arroba, aurora, burros, bursar, busbar. | |
-4 letters: abbas, arbor, arras, aurar, auras, babas, babus, barbs, boars, boras, buras, burbs, burro, burrs, bursa, roars, sabra, surra. | |
-5 letters: abas, abba, abos, arbs, aura, baas, baba, babu, barb, bars, boar, boas, bobs, bora, bras, bros, bubo, bubs, bura, burr, burs. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-b-b-o-r-r-s-u" | |
+2 letters: barbarously. | |
+4 letters: barbarousness. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Sounds 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Historic | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Quotations: Speeches 12. Usage Frequency | 13. Expressions 14. Expressions: Internet 15. Translations: Modern 16. Translations: Ancient | 17. Bible Trace 18. Derivations 19. Rhymes 20. Anagrams | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
